Your presence is mandatory
bloomsbury | 4.23.2024
Press Kit available here
Based on real events, Your Presence is Mandatory (Bloomsbury) is a riveting story of a Ukrainian Jewish WWII veteran and his family who reckon with his lifelong secrecy against the backdrop of Soviet history. The novel takes readers from Hitler’s Germany to post-WWII Ukraine to the current Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Your Presence is Mandatory will also be published in multiple languages, including in Italy (Garzanti), Germany (Droemer Knaur), France (Editions Charleston), Finland (WSOY), Brazil (Editora Rocco).
Praise
"Wonderfully written, elegiac and necessary, Sasha Vasilyuk uncovers the history behind the recent headlines with great skill and grace." — Gary Shteyngart
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A clear-eyed portrayal of how borders move through us, and how surviving war entails enduring many deaths, large and small, within the self. — Esquire
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“At once a historical epic, an engrossing family saga, and an astute examination of morality, survival, hope, and love, Your Presence is Mandatory is a stunning feat. The emotional impact of reading Sasha Vasilyuk's gripping debut is immense. Your Presence is Mandatory is a book to last generations, and one I won't soon forget.” — Lara Prescott, NY Times bestselling author of The Secrets We Kept
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Though Your Presence Is Mandatory focuses on one Ukrainian, it resonates far beyond Eastern Europe. — San Francisco Chronicle
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"Journalist Sasha Vasilyuk works magic in the gray areas of history, weaving her compelling debut historical novel out of the shadowy overlap between survival, secrecy, and guilt. YOUR PRESENCE IS MANDATORY is an important, moving read that will resonate long in the reader's memory." — Kate Quinn, NY Times bestselling author of The Alice Network
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Your Presence Is Mandatory investigates the origins of the ongoing conflict, fueled by the mythology of World War II—which, during Putin’s time in power, has reached an almost hysterical pitch. — Los Angeles Review of Books
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“This extraordinary debut is the best kind of historical fiction -- an emotionally complex and heartrending saga that takes us to unfamiliar places in unfamiliar times and makes them feel known and lived.” — Meg Waite Clayton, author of international bestseller The Postmistress of Paris
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Your Presence Is Mandatory, despite its predominantly historical setting, is immediate and necessary — World Literature Today
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“An outstanding novel of sacrifice, love, and forgiveness. If you have any confusion about the current conflict between Ukraine and Russia, this illuminating story will clarify so very much.” — Susanne Pari, author of In the Time of Our History
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Sasha Vasilyuk’s propulsive first novel… was written with a potent combination of empathy and urgency. — LitHub
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“Captivating and suspenseful . . . a tender tribute to the human spirit, a fresh and moving look at the nature of guilt and memory and one man’s desire to survive at all costs.” — Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry, author of The Orchard
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“A masterful exploration of the weight of secrets, generational divides, war trauma, and the search for home and belonging within one’s own homeland… should be mandatory reading for this time of crisis.” — Maria Kuznetsova, author of Oksana, Behave!
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“An engrossing family saga and a secret key for anyone who wants to understand how history has brought Ukrainians and Russians to where they are today.” — Boris Fishman, author of Savage Feast
reviews & interviews
Her debut novel, Your Presence Is Mandatory, is flawlessly melding a page-turning fictionalization of true events with a darkly comic voice… A clear-eyed portrayal of how borders move through us, and how surviving war entails enduring many deaths, large and small, within the self. — Esquire (read full conversation with Ruth Madievsky)
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Sasha Vasilyuk’s propulsive first novel, which explores the repercussions of a wartime secret on the family of a Ukrainian Jewish WWII veteran, was written with a potent combination of empathy and urgency. — LitHub (read full)
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Because the novel examines the destructive power of national myths, it’s impossible to read this book without thinking of the ongoing war… Though Your Presence Is Mandatory focuses on one Ukrainian, it resonates far beyond Eastern Europe. — San Francisco Chronicle (read full)
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Vasilyuk is never overly sentimental. At the same time, the journalist and author demonstrates a deep understanding of emotional experience. — Los Angeles Review of Books (read full)
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Vasilyuk’s impressive debut chronicles the tribulations of a Ukrainian Jewish WWII veteran and his widow’s distress in the early stages of the 2014 Russo-Ukrainian War. This is a reverberating exploration of guilt, trauma, and the turbulent history between Ukraine and Russia. — Publishers Weekly
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Your Presence Is Mandatory is a timely look at survival that will make you question how wars, both past and present, shape future generations. — Electric Lit (read full interview)
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Your Presence Is Mandatory, despite its predominantly historical setting, is immediate and necessary, especially as former Soviet countries like Ukraine grapple not only to defend their sovereignty but to also slowly uncover their history without a Soviet gaze. — World Literature Today (read full)
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Vasilyuk is an acclaimed journalist, but in this novel, she is first and foremost a sensitive, lyrical storyteller, who brings attention to the tragic history of Ukraine that began decades before the earliest events in the book and is yet unfolding. — Plough (read full)
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The more tangled the political conflict, the more we tend to split all issues neatly into right and wrong. In Sasha Vasilyuk’s Your Presence Is Mandatory, however, nuance is the name of the game. — Jewish Book Council
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Full of devastating pathos and elucidation of how war and, especially, fascist and communist mindsets destroy one’s humanity, this timely novel is a robust addition to the growing body of literature chronicling the Ukrainian experience. — Booklist
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Vasilyuk manages to capture both the story’s intimate drama and its epic qualities, telling the story of a double life and its reverberations across borders and generations. — CrimeReads
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An absorbing historical drama that spans from WWII to the current Russian-Ukraine conflict. Vasiluk is tender and caring with her characters and her setting. Fans of All The Light We Cannot See will find the perfect historical novel with this book. — Debutiful
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Interview with Red Hot Monde Magazine:
